A former Deputy National Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Olabode George, has condemned the proposal to create an additional 31 states.
The elder statesman opined that creating more states would not address the economic crisis currently plaguing the country.
Naija News reports that the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, had earlier revealed that the House had received proposals for the creation of 31 new states.
According to him, the proposed states include Okun, Okura and Confluence from Kogi; Benue Ala and Apa from Benue; FCT State; Amana from Adamawa; Katagum from Bauchi; Savannah from Borno; Muri from Taraba; New Kaduna and Gujarat from Kaduna State; Tiga and Ari from Kano State Kainji from Kebbi; Adada from Enugu; Orlu from Imo and Aba from Abia,Etiti and Urashi in the South East.
Others are Ogoja from Cross River, Warri from Delta, Ori and Obolo from Rivers, Torumbe from Ondo, Ibadan from Oyo, Lagoon from Lagos and Ogun, Ijebu from Ogun, and Oke Ogun/Ijesha from Oyo/Ogun/Osun states.
Speaking on the development while addressing newsmen on Sunday, George argued that some existing states were not viable, which clearly shows that state creation would not solve the country’s deep structural problems.
Instead, George called on the National Assembly to make efforts to ensure the country achieves true federalism, saying it was a sure way to achieve accelerated development.
He said, “Don”t tell me we should create more states. Forget about more states. We want to create more states and then everybody will be rushing to Abuja. This is not sustainable.
“Let us look at our federal structure first, the same federal system we run with America. Why are we not running it as they run their own?
“Go to New York City, the Mayor of New York controls the airport,the John Kennedy Airport,he controls the ports, the seaports. The Mayor of New York, not the governor.
“Go to New Orleans, the mayor there controls the ports. The same in Texas , all oil companies are not controlled by the President. That is federalism.Those people don’t run to Washington every hour to meet the President .
“In America, they have state police and even county police. Why can’t we have such here ? Creation of more states is not sustainable.What we need now is to address the problems in our federal structure.”
